view raw text
Here and There on the Turf Three -Year-Olds Ordinary. i Winter Ones Eliminated. Value of Hurdle Racing. Mrs. Baker s 1928 Band. #- 1 I There was little in the victory of Jack i HiKKins in the Capitol Handicap at Bowie Saturday to suggest that he he- , longs in the Kentucky Derby, but it was a race to stamp him as, at least, a use- . ful sort of three-year-olds. He Mas the . winner of the Louisiana Derby and he disposed of the two winter racing three-year-old sensations in Time Maker and Great Timber, but the winter racing ■ three-year-olds were ordinary. Each day there comes reports of how this or that Preakness Stakes or Kentucky Derby candidate is progressing favorably in its preparation and all of this ; progress would indicate that no eligible that raced at a winter track will have more than a remote chance in either of the great May stakes races. There seems i to be a lack of the required racing ability when a study is made of the apsirants for the two big races that were not raced through the winter months. There were some really good two-year-olds out last year, but there have been better crops and unless many of these improve over the form of their 1K27 campaigning the three-year-olds of this year will not be up to those of many a former racing year. Of course, there have been instances where ordinary two-year-olds have developed into sensa- i tional three-year-olds, just as there have been instances of the leading two-year-olds failing utterly when in their third year. For that reason it would be foolish at this time to make any prediction that the three-year-olds of 192S will be a bad lot, but there is little to suggest that it will be a year to produce any startling colt or filly in lhat age division. Only racing will determine the band;;t class of the crop and there has not bten enough racing at this time to form anything like a line. And the fact that everything points to rather an ordinary array of three-year-olds -may make for better, or at least, | most eliciting racing. If such is the case the big events will bring out larger ■ t „ „ S t ° j V ■ i | | i £ J ■ • t 1 , j i I i , . . ■ ; i i | fields and result in more exciting contests than come with one or two really "standout" colts or fillies. When they are close together in the matter of speed it naturally suggests close eon-tests. The only definite line on the 1928 three-year-olds at this time is on the ones that raced at one or the other of the winter tracks. The two sensations were Edward B. McLeans Time Maker and Richard T. Wilsons Great Timber. They were both beaten by Jack Higgins in the Louisiana Derby, and Jack Higgins does not seem to be of Kentucky , Derby class. He is not in the Preakness I Stakes — that is just how far the rating of the three-year-olds has progressed. | ! I Until the Bowie race rtack was maele I over and greatly improved it was a track that was more famous for repeaters than any other in the country. Over its peculiar surface there were ] many horses that would show to except- ; ional advantage, while better horses would be utterly unable to show their true form. Now, with the many other improve- ! ments at the course of the Southern Maryland Agricultural Association, the track itself has been brought to a condition that does not have the same peculiarity — at least not to the same extent. The surface is more uniform and much faster and better than it was two years back. It is a course over which any horse will race well and it has lost the surface that suited some so well, while it handicapped the others. Until the track was brought to its present condition it differed widely from all other tracks. It was safe for the horses to gallop over, but it was just "different," and that was the reason for it suiting some and handicapping others. It was truly a track to bring home the wisdom of the old adage, "Horses for courses, and courses for horses." Now the track surface does not differ from that of any other good racing ground and there are fewer repeaters. This has brought about be*ier racing and has added to the popularity of Bowie, both with the trainers and the racing publie*. Next week there will come the first 1928 New York racing when the United Hunts Racing Association will conduct its sport at Aqueduct on Thursday and Saturday. AH is in complete readiness for this opening of the racing year and the preparations that have been made assure that this opening will be the most successful in the history of this sporting organization. One of the features may have an important bearing on the racing over the courses of The Jockey Club. This is the hurdle racing. Many years ago hurdle racing was a part of the New York programs, but it was banished and the jumpers . could only find opportunity in steeplechases. . Now effoits are being made , by many of the turfmen in the crosscountry branch of racing to revive hurdle racing. For that reason the races at Aqueduct on Thursday and Saturday . have a special interest. One of the prime arguments for the I restoration of hurdling is that it aflords ; a quicker return to the owner. By that it is meant a horse will learn hurdling r more readily than it will steeplechasing r and it will not have to go through as . arduous a preparation for racing. This would also be an advantage to the I owners who make importations of made jumpers. Too often the jumpers that are , imported are so slow in coming to our - way of steeplechasing that virtually the first racing season in this country is lost. With hurdling that would be changed, for ,. with shorter distances, and hurdles in-- . stead of the brush and banks of the steeplechase . fields, these horses would come » to American ways much more readily. Another great disadvantage that has I been suffered by some of the really good j jumpers that have been imported is that l thoy have been raced through the field 1 when not really up to such racing. They r have been in this country a considerable tj time and, tiring of the long wait for desired condition, the owner becomes impatient - and the horse is started. It is g not up to what is asked and fails. It t might be fit and ready for hurdling r shortly after it reaches this country and -1 . the steeplechasing would come in good time, but too often the importation is s ruined because of the fact that it is 8 asked to do too much on too little preparation. These are good reason for the revival . . , . I ; r r . I , - ,. . . » I j l of hurdle racing ami it is possible that it will be brought about this year. One of the 1928 racing establishments that may cut an important figure in the sport is the Sagamore Stable of Mrs. Margaret Emerson Baker. Few stables are more liberally supplier! with stake engagements for 1928 and to the Preak- ness Stakes alone there are no fewer than five nominations. These are Night Life, Scotch and Soda, Don Q., Nursery Rhymes and Heres How. Of th?S3 Night Life, a son of High Time and Fi ee Love, appears to bo the best. He was the winner of three races last fall, has wintered exceedingly well anel has been galloping for trainer Stot- ler in a fashion to impress. It is intended that he will carry the stable colors in both the Preakness Stakes and the Ken- tucky Derby, should he continue to train satisfactorily. In addition to the older horses there are a dozen two-year-olds. These for the most part were purchased at the Saratoga yearling sales, where Mrs. Baker was a liberal buyer. The one for which the top price was paid is Final, a black son of The Finn — Goldvale, by Watervale. Friar McGee, by Friar Rock — Gertrude McGee, is another that cost ,300 and others were purchased at prices that ranged from ,000 to ,500. The Sagamore colors are tremenously popular and the progress of Mrs. Bakers 1928 band will be watched with great in- terest.
